The Freaky Friday Conundrum
by Nebuleste
Summary: Penny wakes up in Sheldon's body while Sheldon wakes up in Penny's body, and it's all because of an enchanted fortune cookie.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

**I'm taking a short break with my other story since I wrote the next three chapters already and all I need is to proofread them.**

**This fic has been saved on my computer for weeks and I recently finished it (thank you, spring break).**

**It'll be a short one, and I'll update this every one or two days depending on the time I get to read it over.**

**Lastly, this was inspired by the movie, hence the title.**

Penny opened her eyes slowly and cautiously, afraid of being blinded by the bright light illuminating the bedroom. Her vision was blurry at first and her head painfully throbbed. It was another one of her bad hangovers, and what she craved was Tylenol.

_I've got too much to drink again like always_, she mused.

Once her eyes readjusted to the light in the room, Penny sensed that something was... unusual. Across from her bed was supposed to be her vanity, and what was now there was a closet door. Her eyes shifted to the right, finding a bookshelf filled with countless assorted comic books.

She then noticed that the bed she was in was not hers. Penny's candy colored bed sheets were replaced by a dull white one, and all her stuffed animals she usually placed beside her were all gone. Framed on the wall were single comic books, and the nightstand beside her had some kind of DNA model resting on top of it.

"Why am I in Sheldon's room?" Penny asked herself.

Sitting to an upright position, what made Penny more confused was her body. Clothing her body were plaid pajamas and a matching shirt, which she has seen Sheldon wear on numerous occasions. She was even more confused when she lifted her hands, and saw that they were bigger and her fingers were longer.

Her eyes grew wider when she realized that her chest was flat. The blonde hair she loves was not there anymore, and what replaced it was short brown hair. Penny guessed she was having a dream. It was the only logical explanation she could come up with to her waking up in a man's body.

Penny jumped out of bed, and stood on her two feet. She was taller and thinner, it was getting scarier by the minute. There was no mirror in sight and she figured she could use the one in the bathroom to see herself now. She marched to the bedroom door and swung it open. Stepping outside quickly, she bumped into Leonard who held a cup of coffee in his hand and spilled it on the floor.

"Leonard, I didn't see you there." Penny's was surprised to hear her voice deeper and with a familiar Texan drawl.

She watched as Leonard excused himself for a moment to grab a handful of paper towels and returned to wipe the mess away.

"Sorry, I'm in a rush today and you have to find another way to get to work, Sheldon."

Penny froze. _Did he just call me Sheldon?_

"What?"

Leonard got up from the floor, and Penny had to look down at him. "The university called me in earlier and I need to go now."

"Wait, did you call me Sheldon?" Penny asked.

The shorter man nodded with a bemused expression on his face. "That is your name."

"Leonard, it's me Penny."

Leonard stepped back. "Come again?"

"I woke up in Sheldon's body and I don't know why!"

"Okay, well I think you should get some rest and see if your head clears up with all the craziness after. I gotta go." Leonard ran past Penny, and into his bedroom.

She entered the bathroom and switched the lights on. Penny couldn't speak as she inched towards the mirror, gaping at her reflection at the moment.

Her looks that could kill were gone, and she was now in a certain Dr. Whackadoodle's body.

Penny screamed, but instead of a feminine and high pitched one, she let out the same scream that Sheldon would sound out.

Once she was finished, Penny tried to reassure herself that the dream was still going on and she wasn't going crazy.

She stared at the mirror for awhile, trying to process things. If she was in Sheldon's body, where is Sheldon?

There were many possibilities, but if she had to choose the most likely one, Sheldon was probably in her body at that moment.

Penny shook her head. "Holy crap on a cracker."

* * *

Penny found herself standing outside of apartment 4B, where she could have sworn that she was there inside sleeping last night. She raised her hand to knock, but before she could pound on the door, it had already opened.

In front of her was the body that she belonged in. Her eyes followed the hand that gripped her wrist tightly and then pulled her into the apartment. She stumbled, as the Penny-Body shut the door behind her. They looked at each other for a moment, bewildered by what they were seeing.

"Why are you in my body?" Penny said.

Penny-Body, or what she calls it, shrugged her shoulders. "Why are _you_ in mine?"

"I don't know. I woke up this morning in Sheldon's room and found myself here. What the hell is happening and why am I talking to my actual body that I was born with?"

The Penny-Body paused. "You went into my room?"

"What do you mean your room?" Penny asked before she realized that this was really Sheldon she was talking to. "That's you in there Sheldon, right?"

Sheldon nodded slowly. "Penny... why did I wake up with womanly parts?"

"How'd you know that it's me Penny?"

Sheldon moved to the left cushion of the couch, sitting in the spot he chose whenever he visited her apartment. "Because you are the only person I know who would disobey every rule I give you, including entering my bedroom."

Penny suppressed the laughter she had. "You're right. But who's going to answer our questions?"

"Let's think about what had happened the night before," Sheldon suggested before Penny sat down next to him.

"Alright."

Sheldon began telling Penny the events of last night.

_"Hurry up, Sheldon. I'm starving," Penny said, urging her taller friend to pick up his pace. Sheldon had invited the blonde to join him to dinner at Szechuan Palace after Leonard, Howard, and Raj decided to go to a club. It was Anything Can Happen Thursday, and Leonard told Sheldon to embrace the chaos around him and do something crazy rather than have pizza._

_Sheldon's idea of crazy, however, is eating Chinese on Thursday instead of Friday._

_Once they entered the restaurant and were seated at Sheldon's reserved table, they looked through the menu and made a decision of what they wanted. Penny suggested that Sheldon should try a different meal than what he usually orders. Instead of getting his typical General Tso's Chicken, beef with broccoli, shrimp with lobster sauce, and vegetable lo mein dinner, Sheldon ordered a dish of seasoned tofu pork while Penny opted for the shrimp and scallops in mala sauce._

_Their food arrived a while later, and Penny decided to engage in banal chit chat with her eccentric neighbor, who was clearly not pleased during the evening._

_"Why so down, chump?" Penny asked Sheldon._

_Sheldon pushed the plate away from him. "My digestive system has a little problem with this kind of change."_

_"Come on, finish it up. That's a waste of food and money."_

_He shook his head. "I am used to General Tso's Chicken, not tofu pork. My stomach is unsettling right now."_

_Penny rolled her eyes. "Okay, but if you're not going to eat it, I'll take it. It'll be my dinner for tomorrow night."_

_"Really, Penny? Though I am healthy and disease-free, it is unhygienic to eat someone else's food."_

_"Does it bother you?"_

_"Yes."_

_Penny smirked. "Okay, but I'm still eating it. I'm sure I'm not gonna catch any germs from you."_

_Sheldon sighed. "You, woman, are infuriating."_

_"Hey!"_

_"What?"_

_"Keep your comments to yourself. I don't want to listen to your insults."_

_"I'm stating the obvious," Sheldon whispered, but Penny heard him._

_She stared at him. "Why are you like this?"_

_His eyes shot up. "Like what?"_

_"Like that. For a genius, you sure don't understand how people like me have feelings and don't enjoy being offended every single day."_

_"I'm not saying those things to offend you, Penny. I was merely pointing it out to you so you are aware of it."_

_"Okay... but your words hurt."_

_"Oh, please. You know whose words hurt? The ones from the bullies that tormented me back in Texas. You do not understand what how I felt."_

_Penny frowned. She knew how much Sheldon was made fun of as a child. "I do. Casting agents make fun of me without even realizing they are. They would tell me I'm not that great or I should just give up on acting. Their words are as bad as what your bullies told you."_

_Sheldon snorted. "They might be telling the truth."_

_"WHAT?"_

_"You need clarification? Penny, you've been in California for two years now. You haven't gotten a single acting job since you've moved here. Maybe giving up acting is the right thing to do and focus on something better," Sheldon revealed._

_Penny couldn't believe him. "Well, you haven't proven String Theory! Maybe you should give up on that!"_

_Sheldon gasped. "That is preposterous! I've dedicated my life to String Theory and I'm confident that I will win my well-deserved Nobel Prize soon after proving its existence."_

_"That's the point. You've wasted your whole life on some theory that may not even be proven!"_

_"At least I'm contributing to the scientific world. You're just a college drop-out and a waitress. I'm at high point in my career, while you mooch on others for food and wifi."_

_Both were throwing more insults at each other, and it got to the point where an older Chinese woman approached the table to tell them to calm down._

_"Why should I calm down? He has already belittled me and I'm just returning the favor," Penny said._

_Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Belittled you? I was merely pointing out to you the facts."_

_"Please, we want you to lower it down. You are disturbing the other customers in the restaurant, and if they complain one more time, we will have to kick you out," the woman informed them. _

_Penny read her name tag. "I'm sorry, Lin. This guy doesn't understand me and I wonder why we're even friends!"_

_"You do not understand me, either," Sheldon huffed._

_Lin stared at the two as they argued once more. She pulled out two fortune cookies out of her pocket and placed it on the table. "Here are your fortune cookies. Again, please calm yourselves down. I do not wish to have you two escorted out."_

_Penny watched Lin walk away as Sheldon reached over to grab his fortune cookie. "Acting is incomparable to physics, Penny."_

_"I'm gonna use the restroom," Penny said before taking her purse and cookie._

_She headed to the back room where the bathrooms were located. Penny looked behind her to see Sheldon coming towards her direction, apparently to use the bathroom as well. She quickly entered the women's bathroom before Sheldon could reach her. _

_After washing her hands, Penny held in her hand the fortune cookie. With a sigh, she tore the plastic and cracked the cookie open. _

_Unknowingly, Sheldon was doing the same thing inside the men's room._

_Penny began to read the words on the slip of paper. "A journey soon begins..."_

_"...__its prize reflected in another's eyes," Sheldon spoke his fortune out loud to himself. "When what you see is what you lack..."_

_"...then selfless love will change you back," Penny finished. "What the hell does this even mean?"_

_Sheldon turned the paper over and was confused with the fortune he received.  
_

_Penny shrugged her shoulders and crumpled the paper in her hands. As she walked to the door, the ground beneath her shook and she held on to the post tightly. She had never experienced an earthquake in California before, so she stood there as she waited it out. Once the vibrations stopped, Penny rushed to the door and saw Sheldon exit the bathroom._

_"Sheldon!" She called out, catching his attention. "Are you okay? Did you feel that?"_

_Sheldon couldn't say anything. He only gave her a nod before they walked back to the tables. Both stared in disbelief to see everyone unaffected by the earthquake that occurred. The room looked exactly like what it did before they left their seats._

_She felt a tug on her arm and so she turned around to look at Sheldon. _

_"Can we leave?" He quietly asked, still surveying the people acting like nothing had happened._

_"Yeah, let's go."_

Penny listened to his recollection of the night before. "That still doesn't explain how we woke up in different bodies."

Sheldon was stumped on that part. "Switching bodies is complete and utter hokum."

"But it happened."

He sighed. "It seems like it did."

"How do we get back? I certainly do not want to live in this body for the rest of my life."

"Excuse me, that is my body you are talking about. I have scrubbed every centimeter of my skin and sanitized daily to prevent contact with germs. While we resolve our problem, I only ask that you take care of my body as I will do with yours." Sheldon said, but sensed that Penny wouldn't be able to meet his standards.

"Okay, but that means I'll be looking at your body naked," Penny smirked and winked at Sheldon.

Sheldon's cheeks reddened and Penny chuckled. "I do not appreciate the laughter, Penny."

"Oh, come on! You'll be finally seeing a girl naked for once!" Penny joked.

"I am not anticipating to that part."

"Yes, you will. Especially if it's my body." Penny laughed even more seeing Sheldon flustered. "I'm kidding, Moonpie."

"You should be. As I come up with an answer to how we can reverse this effect, we will have to be in each other's shoes for the meantime."

"But I don't want to work at the university," Penny whined.

"And you think in would want to work at The Cheesecake Factory? No, thank you. I'd rather do 10 sit-ups than spend the rest of my day serving platters to patrons, and trust me, sit-ups are challenging for me."

"Why can't we just stay at home?"

"Well, last night we argued about not understanding one another. Let's see if you can be Dr. Sheldon Cooper for a day."

Penny sighed. "Uhh... I'm not looking forward to all the equations and stuff. Hmm.. well if you can survive being me, then I'll believe that physics is more complicated than my life."

Sheldon nodded. "Deal."

Penny stood silently for a minute. "Oh, crap! I forgot! I have this huge audition in three days. Sheldon you have to figure out a way to change this back to the way it used to be before that audition!"

"I'll try, Penny, but I can't make promises. I'm still confused to how this could happen."

They sat on the couch without another word. Sheldon stood up and looked to his body which Penny was current housed in. "Penny. One more thing; no one calls me 'Moonpie' but Meemaw."

Penny stood up and reached down to pat her body's cheek. "Sheldon, until things get fixed, I'm you and you're me. Got it?"

"Fine, but I'll see if I can get used to your vernacular."

Penny smiled. "Whatever floats your boat."


	2. Chapter 2

Sheldon entered The Cheesecake Factory, seeing how dreadful the horrendous lunch shift was after hearing Penny complain about it many times. He concluded that her job will be an easy and a plebeian task for him, knowing that it is incomparable to his occupation as a theoretical physicist at Caltech.

The uniform was uncomfortable and itchy, and Sheldon knew that Penny would kill him if she finds out how he made her look. Sheldon decided to tie the long blonde locks he had up in a ponytail using a rubber band after failing to find a hair tie. He had no clue how to apply her makeup, so he left the face bare.

The disastrous part about getting ready was choosing the undergarments. He was reluctant to pick up the bra and panties that he knew he had to wear while in Penny's body. After seeing how much unorganized her closet was, he spent twenty minutes fixing things, causing him to miss the bus.

Sheldon was ten minutes late for Penny's shift, and earned a lengthy scolding from her manager. He grabbed the ordering slips and pen before proceeding with the first table of the day, which were two muscular patrons. He asked what they wanted, and as a response, one of the men reached out and slapped his butt, earning a yelp from Sheldon and him running across the room.

"What are you doing, Penny?" One of the waitresses beside Sheldon asked. "You know you have to put up with them unless you want to get fired. The boss doesn't want to lose anymore paying customers because you snitched on them. It sucks, but you gotta go through it."

"Why should I receive a firm hit of the buttocks?" Sheldon responded.

"Gee, Penny. Buttocks? Who uses that word?" The other waitress left her and took another table.

Sheldon sighed and went back to the two men who were scanning and drooling over Penny's body.

_Oh, dear lord_, Sheldon thought as he realized that he has six hours more to endure.

* * *

"Dr. Cooper, I need you assistance with a paper," a young man strolled into Sheldon's office with a folder in his hand. Penny gave him a nod and lifted one finger, signifying him to wait a second.

_What do I do...what do I do?_

Penny stood up from the desk chair where she doodled random numbers and made it seemed like she was working. "How can I help you mister...?"

"Williams, and you agreed to assist me with finishing this paper last week. I just need you to look it over and tell me if it's accurate."

"Um... Sure. I promised, didn't I?"

Mr. Williams walked over to examine the whiteboard beside Sheldon's desk. "Dr. Cooper, you do know that these equations aren't solved correctly."

"They aren't? Thank you and I'll take it from here."

Penny shoved the younger man out of the office and shut the door. She went back to the desk and took out the folder that was handed over to her.

That doctor lied.

He said _a_ paper, not ten pages of it.

She sighed and flipped over to page one. Penny couldn't comprehend any of the words on the paper. Most of the vocabulary used is nothing that she has seen before. She glanced over to the sticky note that reminded Penny that she had to read all of it by 10 am, which is in about an hour and thirty minutes.

Penny didn't have the knowledge to understand and correct the paper if did have any errors. Her mind was working really hard to take all the information in but there must have been more than a hundred thousand words. She was getting a headache and Penny wondered how Sheldon could possibly do this on a daily basis. The answer was right there on the tip of her nose.

Sheldon could do it because he's Sheldon, and she had to give him credit for that.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of Pasadena, Sheldon was three hours into Penny's shift, and he never wanted to vaporize so many people out of thin air until now.

His feet were sore from walking around the restaurant, and he needed to burn the uniform he was wearing when a handful of young children threw macaroni and cheese at him. Sheldon tried his best to be courteous throughout the day, but it proved to be impossible after the fourth hour. As the day progressed, Sheldon needed to wait on tables with groups of men. He had to force himself to tolerate their advances, and it was extremely difficult.

Sheldon approached a table with another one of those Neanderthals that reminded him of Penny's ex-boyfriend Kurt. Strong, but a meathead.

"Hello, welcome to the Cheesecake Factory. My name is Shel... Penny and I'll be your server for this evening. May I start you off with drinks?" Sheldon said, ignoring the looks the patron was giving him.

"My name's John. You, young lady, are a stunner," John reached out to touch Sheldon, but he quickly stepped backwards.

"So, what will it be?"

John smirked. "I want the bottled blonde beauty standing right in front of me."

"Are you suggesting you are succumbing to cannibalism and want to consume me?" Sheldon questioned, the innuendo flying over his head.

"Funny, eh? I like funny girls."

Sheldon stifled a scream when John grasped his wrist. "Want me to take you somewhere nice?"

"No, thank you. Water? How about water for you? Let me get that for you, sir." Sheldon released himself from his grip and headed towards the kitchen area.

When he came back, he watched as Penny's manager converse with John which ended with a stern look from the manager. "PENNY!"

"What is it?" Sheldon walked towards him, expecting to be reprimanded.

"Penny, the customer over there complained about your inappropriate behavior. This the fifth time this evening and I expect better from you," he said as John snickered from behind.

"I'll have you know that I can and will file a complaint against your superior because of this misunderstanding. That costumer over there is being highly inappropriate to me, and I want him out!" Sheldon exclaimed.

"We talked about this, Penny. The customer is always right. You're overreacting! Go serve his order with an apology and a bright smile on your face. I expect no more complaints after this."

Sheldon rolled his eyes as the manager walked away. He reached John's table again and sighed. "Have you made your decision?"

"Still want you, baby cakes."

And at that exact moment, John signed his named in the 62nd slot on Sheldon's list of mortal enemies.

* * *

Penny barely made it to the second page when she gave up.

She figured that no one would need her for the rest of the day, so she decided to kick her feet up on the desk and watch "Sex and the City" reruns on her phone. As the episode played out, she indulged on a bag of Cheetos and a diet Pepsi. The desk chair was reclined back as she enjoyed the cool air the AC brought into the room.

When she finished five episodes, Penny took out her magazines from the bag she brought along with her if Sheldon's job got too boring, which she anticipated it would be. She browsed through her Cosmopolitan magazine when someone knocked on the door. It caught her off-guard and Penny accidentally spilled the can of Pepsi with her feet, not realizing how long they actually were.

Penny called out that she'll be there in a second as she cleaned the mess and put her things back into her bag. After straightening out the items on Sheldon's desk, she walked over to the door to answer.

"Dr. Cooper, I just wanted to see what you are up to this evening," Penny guessed that she this man was Dr. Gablehauser, whom she had already met before but she was unsure.

"I'm...um... you know, calculating equations and yeah." She didn't what words to use, and Penny made Sheldon sound stupid in front of his boss.

"Calculating equations? Alright. Have you finished the papers you were presented with?"

"What papers?"

Dr. Gablehauser pointed to the stack on Sheldon's desk. "Those."

"Oh. Not yet, sir. I'm almost done though," she lied.

He gave her a nod. "Carry on, Dr. Cooper."

She headed back to the desk chair as Dr. Gablehauser shut the door behind him. Penny started to flip through the page where she had left off before she was disturbed yet another knock on the door.

"What is it now," Penny muttered to herself. "Come in!"

A woman about Penny's age entered the office with a similar folder that Mr. Williams held earlier. "I need your help with this paper, Dr. Cooper."

"I'm busy."

"Please, you promised me last week at the lecture. It's for my dissertation, and I really need this."

Penny sighed. "Fine."

The woman smiled and handed her the folder before leaving the room. "You were right, he believed it."

Mr. Williams grinned to himself. "I knew he was acting weird. He wasn't himself earlier and seemed to be forgetting things. Took it to my advantage and had my paper read as well."

"Tricking people isn't really my strong suit," the woman dropped her head.

"Hey, you'll get a good paper after Cooper reads it over, and you'll soon get your doctorate."

The two looked at Dr. Cooper's office door before walking away.

Back in the office, Penny wished she hadn't accepted any of the papers. She was going to kill herself if she had to read one more page about the whatever-experiment.

* * *

Sheldon trudged up the stairs, exhausted and the body he was in felt incredibly sore. He dropped trays of food on the floor, on costumers, and himself a couple times during the shift. The manager threatened that if she came back the next day with a sour attitude and loss of coordination, Penny's job would be gone even before she knew it.

He finally reached the fourth floor landing and knocked on the door when he realized he forgot his keys.

_Knock, knock, knock,_ "Leonard?"

_Knock, knock, knock,_ "Leonard?"

_Knock, knock, knock,_ "Leonard?"

Leonard opened the door. "Why are you knocking like that?"

"Leonard, I always knock like this," Sheldon entered his apartment and noticed Howard sitting in his spot. "Get out of my spot."

"Your spot?" Howard raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, mine. If you do not wish to receive yet another strike for your insubordination, I suggest you move your seat somewhere else."

Howard looked over to Leonard. "Is she serious?"

"Penny, what on earth has gotten into you? First, Sheldon thinks he's you and now you're acting like him? What's going on?"

Sheldon sat down on his spot after Howard had scooted over to the right. "Penny and I had woken up in the morning in our incorrect bodies. I am in Penny's, and Penny is in mine."

Raj swallowed the beer in his mouth. "This is some weird crap, dude."

"Where is Penny anyways?" Sheldon asked.

"You're right there- oh, you mean Penny in your body. Last time I saw your body, it was back at the university. I was going to offer him, I mean her, a ride back home but the office was locked when I went to ask." Leonard informed Sheldon.

Sheldon reached over for the phone and dialed Penny's number. She picked up and greeted him with a slurred 'hello.'

"Penny? It's Sheldon. Where are you?"

"Isn't it a little weird calling yourself Sheldon even though I'm hearing my own voice?" Penny said, sounding very drowsy.

"I'm serious. What is your exact location?"

"I'm still here at the university. A bunch of young people came to and asked me to read their disser... whatever. Took me forever to finish all of them, but they probably will realize that I overlooked a lot of mistakes."

"Penny, I'm a physicist not a proofreader! You shouldn't have accepted all those papers. They're just undergrads trying to increase their chances in receiving their doctorates by having papers read by me!"

"Well, they're gonna look like fools now."

Sheldon sighed. "Stay there. We'll pick you up."

"Sheldon, I can drive you know?"

He shook his head from the other side of the line. "You don't have a car with you and I don't possess a license."

"Fine, be here as soon as possible. I am starving and tired."

* * *

Sheldon helped Penny walk up the stairs. She was so worn-out that she had to drag her body back to her apartment. Once Sheldon unlocked her door, Penny immediately flopped herself down on her couch as he headed to the kitchen and started to boil water to make her a cup of tea.

Sheldon didn't bother looking around her kitchen for food, knowing that Penny had none, but he remembered her taking his Chinese dinner from last night home.

He reheated the seasoned pork tofu, and as he waited for it to warm up, Sheldon prepared Penny's tea.

He understood that Penny was exhausted from working at the university, and knew that it was best to make a comment about he was right. Truth be told, Sheldon actually felt that Penny's job was _way_ more difficult than his. He had never wanted to sleep right away after working six hour straight. Six hours at the Cheesecake Factory is equivalent to ten hours at Caltech. All he needed to do there was calculate formulas and work on a thesis paper or two. At the restaurant, he had to suffer through rude customers and the irritating yelling from the manager.

The break at the Cheesecake Factory was not even half of Sheldon's lunchtime at the university. He wasn't able to eat the hamburger he brought from home because there weren't any microwaves available for him to preheat.

The worst part about Penny's job is the never ending line of flirtatious men in her way. Sheldon wondered how she was able to survive a day through that and still come back to work the next day.

"Here, eat this and drink up," Sheldon said, bringing Penny the meal and tea to her. He aided

Penny to sit up on the couch, and handed her the freshly made tea.

Sheldon watch her sip and swallow the tea before moving on to the leftover meal he gave her.

"Thank you," he heard Penny say, though the words that came out were in his own hoarse voice.

"Now you know what I have to deal with everyday at Caltech."

Penny nodded. "You were right. I feel like my head was about to explode after reading numbers and symbols for an hour. How was work at the restaurant?"

"It wasn't easy compared to me working at the university."

They sat in silence before Penny finished her food.

"What now?" She asked.

Sheldon shrugged his shoulders. Of all the mysteries the universe contained, he wanted to know the answer of this mystery so badly.

"Lin," Penny breathed out, earning a confused look from Sheldon.

"She gave us the fortune cookie. We read it at the same time before the earthquake happened. That must be it!"

"An _enchanted_ fortune cookie. Penny, really?"

Penny jumped out of the couch. "I mean it's the one thing that occurred before the earthquake and us switching bodies."

"Are you suggesting we visit that woman?"

"She's the only person who'll know how to switch us back!"

And with that, Penny and Sheldon headed to Szechuan Palace.

* * *

"Your usual table, Dr. Cooper?" The man standing behind the podium asked.

Sheldon stepped forward. "We would like to speak with Lin."

"May I ask why?"

Penny looked to Sheldon, wondering if she should tell him. "Well, when we woke up, uhh, we weren't in our right bodies."

The man stared at the two before screaming out Lin's name who tried to avoid them. He spoke to Lin in Chinese, his face clearly showed annoyance.

Lin yelled at the man one more time, and turned to Sheldon and Penny. "I cannot fix it. Only you can fix it."

"How?" Penny asked.

"When the fortune come true, then you go back. You find the answer in each other. "

Without another word, Lin left the room, leaving the two even more confused. "Excuse me, do you know what she meant by that?" Sheldon asked.

"My mother does that to people who don't get along."

Penny sighed. "How do we change back?"

The man shrugged. "It's only you that can figure that out."

* * *

Penny stopped at a red light, still thinking of what to do now. She had no idea about how to proceed. She doesn't understand Lin's words, and neither did Sheldon.

What if they never find out how, and they're stuck in a different body for the rest of their lives?

"Penny, I do not appreciate how you are driving without a license," Sheldon said, interrupting Penny's train of thought.

"You have your permit and I have my license. If we get stopped, we'll tell them you're teaching me."

Sheldon nodded. "What's on your mind?"

"A lot of things."

It was true. She was picturing the rest of her life as Sheldon Cooper working at Caltech as a physicist. That didn't sit too well for Penny. She knew if she stayed in Sheldon's body forever, he'll probably lose his job at the university. She wouldn't be able to handle his work.

Penny wished that she could just go back to the way things were before they fought back at the restaurant.

Sheldon in her body was even worse. He would have to work towards a college degree and wait years until he gets back all his degrees he had earned. Plus, he barely knows how to take care of a woman's body, judging by the way the Penny-body looked today.

And what would she tell her parents? _Hey, mom and dad! I'm a dude now!_

No.

Penny was determined to figure out a way to change back into her own body.

The light turned green, and she slowly pushed down on the gas pedal.

She slowly turned her head to see Sheldon looking out to the window, probably thinking about the same things as well.

* * *

**A/N:**

**I have all the next 2 chapters plus an epilogue written, but a tiny part of me wants to expand this story more so I'll think about it.**

**Please ignore the silly mistakes (if there are any). I'm not much of an expert at proofreading.**


	3. Chapter 3

It was Saturday morning, and Sheldon planned on playing paintball with the guys. He thought it would be a huge disadvantage now that he is in Penny's body. Sheldon doesn't have the long limbs capable of running great distances quickly. With him being in her body, it would be difficult when holding the heavy equipment. But he knew there were some advantages. Penny's body would allow him to crouch and hide behind small bushes, and maybe use Penny's looks to distract the males before shooting them.

When Penny and Sheldon revealed to the rest of the gang their unlikely situation in detail on Friday night, they honestly thought Sheldon was going to say 'bazinga' at the end. It never came, and they were forced to accept the reality.

At least Leonard and Howard won't try anything with Penny, knowing that it's Sheldon inside her body.

Saturday rolled around the corner, and both were still stumped on how to reverse the effect.

_When the fortune come true, then you go back. You find the answer in each other._

Penny hoped that an epiphany will come to her or Sheldon soon. She _hated_ being in Sheldon's body. He would often regulate the way she was cleaning his body, stating that he doesn't want to come back to a dirty and germ-covered body. Penny helped Sheldon trim her body's finger nails, even painting nail polish on them, which Sheldon tried to talk her out of. The smell nauseated him, and he had to wear a face mask during the process.

Sheldon had to let Penny use his toothbrush, and even though it was for _his_ teeth, he was still reluctant on letting her use it.

In addition to all of that, he still believed that Penny doesn't have the ability to clean the way he would usually do.

Sheldon would compel Penny to put on his usual two-layered shirts and chinos, and if she followed, he would allow her to choose his attire for the day.

Another thing was food. Sheldon made Penny eat Big Bran for breakfast, stating that his digestive system desperately needed the high fiber. He had also given her his bowel movement schedule, to which Penny did not follow as he expected.

As an incentive for when Penny complies with what he orders her to do, he allowed her to give him her preferences in how to groom her body and what to eat. Penny wasn't so sure about Sheldon and his willingness to wash her naked body, but was surprised when he actually did.

She'll never forget Sheldon's face when he came out of the bathroom after his first cleaning of her body.

Last night, Penny had asked Sheldon if she could sit in his spot since she's in his body. Sheldon rejected her proposal, saying that either he was in his body or another's, his spot will always be his spot. Penny sulked, and sat on the middle of the couch.

Sheldon sitting on his spot was the only normal thing he has done ever since switching bodies with Penny.

"You ready, Pen- I mean Sheldon?" Leonard corrected himself.

Sheldon nodded, and picked up his paintball gear on his desk. "Ready."

Penny walked into the room with her laptop in hand. "What's the WiFi password?"

"It's 'pennyyoualreadyhavemybodygetyourownwifi.' No spaces," Leonard said.

"Thank you. Now I can get some shopping done."

Sheldon had a glimpse on what Penny was browsing. "Penny!"

She turned around. "Yeah?"

"Why are you purchasing men's clothing?"

"Because I don't feel like wearing your usual clothes, Sheldon. I want something that's... well, Penny."

"But I don't want to wear a leather jacket and jeans," Sheldon said, pointing at her online shopping cart.

"Relax. You're not really wearing it. Plus, I want to see how you look like in this shirt."

Penny put up a picture of a nice blue polo for Sheldon to see.

"And after we change back, you can have it!"

Sheldon gave her a small smile. "Okay. But please clothe my body with an appropriate set of wardrobe. I will definitely not appreciate it when I see myself in a wife-beater and ripped jeans."

She smirked. "You're only giving me ideas, Shelly."

* * *

Penny was sitting on the couch watching _The Devil Wears Prada_ when the phone beside her began to ring. She placed her bowl of cereal down on the coffee table before picking up the phone.

"Penny...'s apartment." She corrected, and reminded herself to watch out for that.

"May I speak to Penny, please?" A woman on the other line asked.

"Who is this?" Penny realized she didn't check the caller I.D.

"Amelia, her agent," she answered.

Penny quickly put the movie on mute, knowing that it's probably news about an audition she took or an upcoming one. "Penny's umm sick. She lost her voice and she can't speak at the moment. This is her friend, Sheldon. Do you have a message to pass along for her? She hopes its good news."

"Sadly, no call-backs yet. I just wanted to call her up and remind her of the audition scheduled on Monday afternoon. She's been looking forward to it for weeks now and I hope she gets her voice back before the day," Amelia said.

Penny totally forgot about the audition. Ever since she learned about it, she had been preparing for it weeks prior. She even signed up for extra acting classes that she knew she couldn't afford due to a tight budget. She was confident that she was well-prepared for this audition and she had the role she wanted in the bag already.

What was stopping her so unexpectedly? Body switching with Sheldon.

Not only did she suffer a mental breakdown yesterday, now her big break was slipping away from her reach. This had to be the worst thing that ever happened to Penny.

Amelia gave her a message to wish Penny a fast and full recovery, without knowing she already did and it was totally unnecessary.

Once she hanged the phone up, Penny screamed in frustration through one of the throw pillows on the couch.

_This can't be happening right now._

Screaming didn't help, so Penny did what she did best.

Drink.

She made her way to the kitchen and pulled out an unopened bottle of peppermint schnapps from the cupboards as well as a tall glass to pour herself a drink. Penny knew she was going to regret it later, but she needed something to calm her nerves.

With a glass of peppermint schnapps (gosh, Penny enjoyed saying that word too much) in her hand, Penny fell back down on the couch and stared at the movie still playing silently in the background. With each sip of the schnapps, all her newly developed problems seemed to fly out of her head. Sure new ones such as migraines and vomiting, but at least she wouldn't have to think about being stuck in Sheldon's body.

_Damn, I'm in Sheldon's body_, Penny realized two glasses too late that it was Sheldon's body receiving the alcohol and not hers.

Just when she hoped Sheldon would come home a little later after she's sober, he began knocking on her door.

Penny didn't bother hiding the bottle and the glass.

Sheldon knows whenever she's been drinking.

The door swung open and Penny looked down to see Sheldon. It was funny for her that she was taller now. "Yes?"

Sheldon examined her face for a second before peeking through her apartment and spotting the bottle of liquor.

"Penny..." The way he said her name reminded her of the day Sheldon helped her with the Penny Blossom business.

"What is it, Sheldon?"

"You've been drinking alcohol," Sheldon stated.

"Thanks, I didn't know," she didn't deny it.

"May I come in?"

Penny gave him room to step inside and he immediately picked up the bottle and poured its contents down the sink. Penny stared in shock as she watches him dispose of the bottle. He gripped on the kitchen counter with his back towards her. "Why would you drink?"

"I'm sorry. I forgot it's not my body and I don't have the right to just drink."

He turned around. "Why are you drinking?"

Penny sighed. "I'm not taking this situation too well. I have an audition on Monday and with still don't know to reverse this. The audition is something I've been preparing myself for a good amount of time and I'm gonna lose this chance." She began to tear up and Sheldon had no clue what to do.

"Penny, I don't like seeing myself cry."

"Gee, you really know what to say to lighten my spirits," Penny said, wiping a single tear away.

"Sarcasm?"

She shot him a look. "You think?"

"Penny, you know how I'm not adept at picking up sarcasm."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Sheldon gestured Penny to sit down on the couch, which she did and he followed. "I see how important this is to you."

"My audition?"

"Your career."

Penny shrugged. "It's what I've wanted ever since I was a little girl."

"Drinking doesn't solve everything."

"It numbs the pain."

Sheldon cocked his head to the right. "What pain is that?"

"Defeat."

"But Penny, you haven't even tried yet," Sheldon informed her.

"I have a feeling we won't be back in our right bodies by Monday, and blowing off that audition is going to hurt my career. The role I wanted is for a new show. It's one of the lead roles, and I'm gonna miss my opportunity."

Penny buried her face with her hands after revealing how upset she was to Sheldon. "I am a failure! You were right about what you said back at the restaurant!"

"You're not a failure, Penny."

"You said that you pointed those things out so I could be aware. I'm still not over that Sheldon. What you said hurt me so much and you don't seem to understand that it's plain wrong to point out people's flaws."

Sheldon sighed. What he had said had caused Penny's despair, and if his mother was here witnessing this, she would have berated him.

Penny was quiet, and Sheldon was uncomfortable of the silence.

Instead of going back into his apartment, Sheldon wrapped one arm around Penny's left shoulder and brought the other to her right, softly patting it reassuringly.

He knew he was going to regret the next few words out of his mouth, but he had to make it up to Penny.

"I'll do the audition for you."

* * *

**A/N:**

**It may be a tad bit OOC for Sheldon, but I mean why not?**

**I also decided to rewrite the whole story. It may take me longer to update both of my stories because my family is visiting me for a week or two and job is taking a huge chunk out of my time.**


	4. Chapter 4

_He knew he was going to regret the next few words out of his mouth, but he had to make it up to Penny. "I'll do the audition for you."_

"What?" Penny stared at him. She knew what Sheldon had said, but she needed to hear it again for clarification.

Sheldon sighed. "I'll do the audition for you."

He scanned her face, unable to read her expression. "Penny?"

"Sorry, I was thinking about something. Sheldon, you don't have to do that. I know how uncomfortable you are with public speaking and going to an audition takes a lot of guts. I'm not so sure you can handle that. Plus, what do you know about acting?" Penny said.

"Penny, if I can understand physics, then I am positively certain I can handle acting," Sheldon said with a smug look on his face.

She couldn't believe him. He actually seemed content with doing the audition for her. Sheldon didn't seem hesitant with his decision, and if he was, he was too damn good in hiding it from Penny. Perhaps this kind of thing could work. It was a huge risk that she was taking with Sheldon. She had been to plenty of auditions in her whole life, and Sheldon- well, none.

_Maybe Sheldon is secretly an exceptional actor and he could get me that role_, Penny thought, but she chuckled knowing that he believed his time was too valuable to spend what he conceived to be more of a hobby than a career.

Sheldon knew that she was doubting his abilities inside her head. "If you let me do this, I can see whether or not acting is as laborious as what you have told me."

Penny sensed he was challenging her.

"Okay, but listen to me. This is something very important to me and my acting career will take off if I get this job. I really need you to give this your all. Got it?"

He slowly nodded his head.

"Good. Now, let's see if I can teach you some of my techniques. Grab a notebook and pen," Penny ordered him, pointing under the coffee table where the items were placed while she dug through her purse for the script.

"Penny, I have an eidetic memory. I will remember _all_ of everything you say."

She wasn't sure if teaching Sheldon acting would end up being stressful or fun.

Penny stood up, but before she can proceed teaching, she dashed to the bathroom and threw up all/ the alcohol in her system. She leaned against the bath tub, and out of the corner of her eye, she sees Sheldon approaching her. He entered the bathroom and knelt down on the floor, handing her an aspirin and a glass of water. She gave him a soft smile before swallowing the pill.

She heard Sheldon speak. "We'll start when you're feeling better."

* * *

"What is acting? Acting is the art or occupation of performing in plays, movies, or television productions. When you're playing a role or simply auditioning for one, you have to grab the audience's undivided attention. It's all about the performance you give and how well you deliver the dialogues. You don't read it once and recite it from memory just like that. You have to put some feeling into it. _Be_ that character instead of pretending," Penny explained as Sheldon listened to her words.

Sheldon raised his hand up to ask a question. Penny rolled her eyes before calling out his name. "You seem to have a grasp on what acting really is. I can tell that you've learned countless of techniques from your acting classes. My question to you is with all the knowledge you have in this art, how come you haven't received a big part in a movie or a show?"

She looked at him and wished he hadn't asked the last part. Not because she was offended, but she has no answer to it. Penny worked her ass of trying to make this acting thing work. Moving west was a part of it, but nothing really extraordinary had happened to her recently.

"I don't know, but can we continue?"

Sheldon gestured her to proceed.

"Acting tip number one: The main idea in being a good actor or actress is expressing emotion and what you're feeling. The audience needs to know what is happening and to feel about certain situations. Let's try an exercise. You'll be a father whose son gets kidnapped and is telling me, the wife, the news. Ready?"

"What is the dialogue for this scene?" Sheldon asked.

"No dialogue. We're gonna try some improv with this. Can we start?"

Sheldon raised his hand. "Improvisation? Alright. But shouldn't you be playing the father and I the mother?"

"What? Why?"

He pointed to his body and to Penny's.

"Oh. Acting is all about taking up challenges. Since we switched bodies, we'll switch roles, too."

"I hardly see any possibility of a television show where the wife is a man and the husband is a woman."

Penny fought the urge to give him a good hit in the head. _Couldn't he just let it go?_

"Fine! You're the mother and I'm the dad. Happy?"

"I'm not _un_happy."

"I'll start," Penny cleared her throat. "Honey, something terrible happened!"

"What happened, dear?" Sheldon said, delivering it almost robotically and with no emotion.

"Our son! Someone saw a man luring him away from his group at the museum! His preschool teacher looked everywhere and he's missing," Penny made her voice sound so frantic.

Sheldon shook his head. "A progeny of mine will certainly inherit my intelligence, and he'll be smart enough to know that he should stay with the group. Are you sure this is my son?"

"Sheldon he's five!"

"So? When I was five, I wrote my paper _A Proof That Algebraic Topology Can Never Have a Non-Self-Contradictory Set of Abelian Groups._"

Penny gaped at him. "Wow. When I was in kindergarten, I was supposed to marry Jason Saridson at recess, by the time my class got out there, he was already engaged to Chelsea Himmelfarb."

"Started to be promiscuous at an early age, huh? Not too surprising."

She shot him a look, and he immediately backed away.

"Okay, I don't think we'll get pass this exercise without ripping our heads off our bodies, so before we do such thing let's move on to tip number two."

Sheldon glared at her. He opened his mouth to object, but Penny beat him to it.

"Make your posture match your character. For example, if you're playing a crippled old man, you make it seem like so," Penny demonstrated how to as Sheldon nodded. When he copied her movement, she continued. "As I said before, put yourself in the place of your character. It's self-explanatory, be that character you're playing. I'm gonna give this another shot, so new exercise. Um, let's do an easy one. I guess we can play as each other."

"You act like me and I act like you?" Sheldon asked.

"Not_ like_ me, but me. Here, I'll start," Penny thought of something that Sheldon would say. "Penny, it's Saturday and I need to do my laundry at precisely 8:15 pm. Now, you."

Sheldon paused, and then started to flip Penny's hair around, twisting the ends of it with his finger. "I'm Penny and I love shoes and having regular coitus with various men!"

She shook her head. "That is not me."

"Which part?"

"All of it!"

"You regularly spend your money purchasing footwear and are constantly at a bar trying to bring a stranger home."

Well, technically, Sheldon was right.

"What's with the hair flip then? I don't do that."

"It's an acting choice I made," Sheldon grinned.

They went through several more lessons before Penny ran out of them. Overall, if Sheldon gave his all to it and not questioned each exercise, he could be a decent actor. The eidetic memory would be a plus for him since he wouldn't have to spend so much of his time memorizing pages of scripts. Penny gave him a copy of the script for the audition, and Sheldon remembered all of her lines after reading through it once.

She showed him how she wanted a certain sentence would come out as well as body language to use during the scene. Sheldon mirrored her actions, and after all the infuriating lessons she gave him, Penny was hopeful about the plan.

If he executed it the way she wanted it to be, Penny would be so proud.

* * *

Sheldon sat on a plastic folding chair as the room swarmed with women, all whom were auditioning for the same role as he was for Penny. They were taller than Penny's height, and had longer yet similar colored hair. Most of them were wearing nothing but a camisole and a pair of short shorts, and adding to their already tall stature were a pair of five inch heels.

Penny wanted Sheldon to dress modestly, knowing that showing up with barely any clothing was not the right way to impress the casting agents. They'll silently judge you even before you speak. She handed him a pair of jeans and a nice top that didn't show any cleavage or shoulders, but clung to her waist tightly. Before Sheldon left, Penny marveled on how hot she really looked. She asked Sheldon what he thought, and he simply rolled his eyes and said goodbye.

"Penny Queen?" a man with a clipboard entered the waiting room called, and Sheldon swiftly got on his feet.

Once he came into the next room, he bumped into a sobbing woman who cursed him out and wished him bad luck before storming out. Sheldon stood in front of a video camera resting on top of a tripod as he introduced himself to the casting agents.

The intense glare from them intimidated Sheldon, and he was beginning to have doubts about whether he could proceed with this. They spoke with a stern voice, much like his mother's when she was angry at him. He swallowed the lump in his throat, and the bright lights in the room made his forehead sweat.

_Don't give up now, Cooper_, he thought to himself before taking one deep breath and began to recite the monologue.

It was hard to see the casting agents' faces as he spoke, but he didn't really care. Not seeing their faces was enough to keep him going. Sheldon used all of the techniques Penny taught him. He made sure to use his hands as he gave his monologue and put feeling in what he was saying.

Sheldon could feel himself shaking nervously, and he tried his best to control his anxiety. After saying the final line, he heard the sound of paper being passed around as well as writing.

"Thank you, Ms. Queen. We'll contact you within three days if anything," the woman said as she requested for the next person.

Sheldon gave them a slight nod and walked out of the room.

_So this is why Penny is always anxious before, during, and after auditions_, he told himself. Sheldon wasn't sure whether they liked his performance or not, but what he was sure is that he did the best he could.

If only they thought the same.

* * *

Penny nervously paced around her apartment. It had been three days since Sheldon went to the audition for her and things were looking not so good. Sheldon told Penny every detail of the audition, and she couldn't find anything that he did to mess up.

The anxiety was killing her, and never it had reached to the point where she's biting her fingernails. Sheldon was sitting on her teal blue couch, typing away on his keyboard about an experiment he conducted.

The phone began to ring, and Penny stared at it for a moment, her heart pounding faster than ever. She checked the caller idea and squealed when she recognized it as the number she had been waiting for. Penny quickly accepted the phone and shoved it into Sheldon's hand so he could talk for her. She couldn't hear much but the muffled voice on the other line. Sheldon's face was expressionless but two minutes into the call, he turned his head to Penny and gave her a soft smile.

"Thank you. I am anticipating on working with you. Goodbye." The call ended, and Penny jumped up and down in excitement. She didn't need to hear anything more than what Sheldon had said on the phone. She got the part and she couldn't thank Sheldon enough for it.

"I can't believe it! I'm going to be a star! Sheldon, you're a freaking genius!" Penny was smiling uncontrollably.

Sheldon enjoyed Penny's reaction. "With an IQ of 187, it's no doubt I am."

"Shut up! I'm just so happy! Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me!"

"I can see it."

Without any warning, Penny wrapped Sheldon around her arms and pulled him into a hug. The hug wasn't like the one he had given her when she gave him the Napkin. It was different. It felt... more special. Sheldon stiffened at first, before returning her hug. The sounds of their breaths were the only thing they could hear, and neither of them moved an inch. The hug lasted for more than ten Mississippi's, and Penny was surprised it was that long. She then turned her head slightly and gave Sheldon a kiss on his cheek before he pulled away in shock.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sheldon. Something took over me and well..."

Sheldon smiled. "No worries. I am very happy for you. You prepared so much for this role and no one deserves it more than you."

Her heart was about to burst. That was the sweetest thing Sheldon had ever said to her. "You really think so?"

"I don't think so. I know so."

Penny didn't want to kiss him again on the cheek, afraid it would be too much physical contact for one day.

She let out a sigh after she realized they still haven't come up with an answer to the riddle. "Sheldon?"

"Yes?"

Penny lowered herself down on the couch. "Do you have any clue about what the fortune cookie is telling us?"

Sheldon hated not having the answers to questions. He felt his face twitch but controlled it soon after. "Maybe we can break it down?"

"Alright... so 'a journey soon begins, its prize reflected in another's eyes.' I'm guessing the journey it's talking about is us switching bodies."

"The next line, 'When what you see is what you lack, then selfless love will change you back,' probably tells us that what we see in each other is something we don't have, our selfless love will fix this situation."

She shook her head. "Sheldon, you just reworded it. What does it _mean_? What do we lack?"

"Thinking back to the night of Anything Can Happen Thursday, understanding of each other?"

Penny bit her lip. Was that the reason why they switched? To understand each other better? "Perhaps it is." She glanced over to the clock hung up on her wall, realizing that Sheldon needed to go. He was hoping that Penny wouldn't notice the time. Sheldon _dreaded_ going to the Cheesecake Factory to work. After saying goodbye and another thank you, Sheldon left the apartment to get ready.

In deep thought, Penny mused that maybe half of the fortune was complete. Sheldon (hopefully, she thought) finally understood her love for acting.

Was she supposed to understand his love for physics?

* * *

**A/N:**

**Penny's acting techniques were taken from a wiki how article. I, sadly, have no idea about acting.**

**Super sorry for such a long update. Thanks for all the reviews though :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Penny rolled out of bed with a loud yawn. She was glad that it was Friday and now free to do whatever she wanted. Slipping on her fuzzy pink slippers, she realized that she was still in Sheldon's body. His feet were too big, so she kicked them away. The floor was cold, and she mentally noted to ask Sheldon for pairs of socks.

She was able to get out of Sheldon's job by using up all of his vacation days. No one questioned her when she headed out. They were very glad that Dr. Cooper's finally taking a vacation. Penny hadn't told Sheldon yet, and she made sure the boys didn't say a word about it to him. She couldn't take it anymore. The numbers and equations were hard to look at. The constant women grad students throwing themselves at her was getting too much. She didn't know how Sheldon could handle this at a daily basis.

Sheldon, meanwhile, wasn't doing any better with Penny's work. Her manager had called her phone numerous times about how close she is from getting fired if she screwed up one more time. According to him, Sheldon had taken part in several confrontations, and almost poured a glass of lemonade down one of the customer's shirt. _I would have done the same for good reasons.  
_

Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she thought about how she missed going to the gym. She loved working out a sweat and secretly checking out the hot guys in the gym lifting weights. Sipping her warm drink, Penny wondered what Sheldon would look like if he was rip and wearing leather jackets like the other guys she dated. She snickered at the picture in her head. She could only see her Sheldon skinny and in his geeky t-shirts.

_It wouldn't be such a bad thing to add a little bit of muscle in Dr. Whackadoodle._

She glanced over to the wall clock, saying to herself that the gym she usually goes to would be open in about an hour. Penny put her empty cup in the sink and headed towards the bathroom. She was standing in front of her bedroom doorway when Sheldon's knocking began to sound out. Turning around, she opened the door and smiled. "Morning, Sheldon."

"Good morning, Penny. Now, I know it is eight in the morning and you have a rule about not waking you up before 11AM. I just need you to read this over and sign where it tells you to," Sheldon handed her a document with at least twenty pages titled _The Body Swap Agreement._

Penny quickly flipped through the pages. "You expect me to read all of this?"

He nodded. "Of course. Until we return to our bodies, we will need an agreement that outlines our duties and responsibilities we must agree to."

She gaped at him. She knew it was coming sooner or later. "Sheldon, I don't feel like reading all of this. Plus, I'm heading to the gym in an hour."

"You are certainly not."

"Uh, yeah I am."

Sheldon snatched the document out of her hand and turned to the third page, pointing at a section that directed Penny's attention. "According to this clause, you may not do any activities that I object. I object you from going to the gym."

Penny huffed. "Why not? I feel like using an elliptical and don't you want a nice beach body for the summer?"

He chuckled. "Penny, Penny, Penny... You know I do not go to the beach. Who knows what hazardous material you might encounter? I once went to the beach with my family and ended up stepping on broken glass which resulted in a horrible foot infection."

"But I didn't sign it, so you can't make me!"

He rolled his eyes. Penny's as stubborn as him in some occasions. "Let me remind you that I am in your body, and I am not afraid of doing anything to it."

"Really? Like what?" Penny taunted.

"I would say have coitus with strange men but the thought of touching and unnecessary exchange of bodily fluids is repulsive. In addition to that, I don't want to see a naked man," Sheldon grimaced. "Also, sexual intercourse with random men may increase your chance in contracting an STD."

"How thoughtful," Penny crossed her arms. "I'm still going to the gym."

Sheldon stared at the document in his hands. "Let's make a deal. You read this over and make any changes that you deem are necessary. The limit to that is only three. You must agree to the whole clause, not part of it. Sign it and return it to me in a half an hour and you may use my body."

She took the papers. "Fine, thank you. What about you? Are you going to do anything today?"

"I do want to go to the new model train store an hour away from here."

"Sounds like fun," Penny replied with a hint of sarcasm that Sheldon didn't catch as usual.

He grinned. "Great! I need a ride to it, so you are obligated to take me."

She shot him a look. "_Obligated_?"

"Yes. According to Section 5, Paragraph 8, one of your duties is to drive me anywhere."

"Why would you need to put that in the agreement? It's not going to affect me if you can't go anywhere."

"Au contraire. If for some reason I get hit by a vehicle, the impact will cause damage to your body. I have it stated in the agreement to ensure safety for both of us."

Penny sighed. "Fine, anything else?"

"There's one more thing," Sheldon stepped to the side and leaned down to the floor, bringing himself up afterwards with a box at hand. "This is for you as well."

He handed the small box to a confused Penny. "What's this for?"

"I realized that you use your green apple shampoo to wash my hair. I would like you to use my shampoo and conditioner. The thought of my hair smelling differently when this effect reverses bothers me. In return, I'll use your green apple shampoo to wash your hair," Sheldon answered.

She glanced down to the box, then to the agreement. "I don't have a choice, do I?"

"You do have a choice, but it may or may not be subjected as a violation to the agreement."

Penny pursed her lips and looked down on Sheldon. "Alright. Good day, Sheldon."

"Good day, Penny."

* * *

_Section 10 Clause 5: __Both parties must refrain from alcohol consumptions due to the fact that it lowers inhibitions..._

_Section 13 Clause 9: Penny Queen may not use Dr. Sheldon Cooper's body for any carnal activity..._

_Section 21 Clause 18: Penny Queen may not add any tattoos or piercings in Dr. Sheldon Cooper's body..._

_Section 30 Clause 20: Both parties must bathe the body they are temporarily housed in at least twice a day..._

_Section 35 Clause 2: Penny Queen may not use Dr. Sheldon Cooper's body for self-abuse..._

_Section 41 Clause 15: Both parties must go to work at their scheduled times..._

_..._

_Any violations made towards the agreement will be subjected to a strike, a hefty fine, or a scolding based on the actions done._

Penny reached out for a pen and began jotting down notes on the piece of paper she had. Most of the clauses were reasonable, some she definitely did not want to agree to. One clause forbade her from drinking coffee while in Sheldon's body. She wasn't allowed to go to night clubs or parties. Reading over the agreement one more time, she realized that almost all of the clauses were either about her or both of them. Sheldon didn't have any restrictions to follow, so to be fair...

_1. Dr. Sheldon Cooper must attend Penny Queen's classes at the community college which starts in two weeks. He must be able to bring up her current average up to at least a "B+."_

_2. Dr. Sheldon Cooper must eat WHATEVER Penny Queen decides. He is not to follow his routine._

_3. Dr. Sheldon Cooper must allow Penny Queen to obtain a license for him. That way after switching back, Sheldon will be able to drive and not ask Penny to be chauffeured around town._

_4. Dr. Sheldon Cooper must not act like a jackass towards The Cheesecake Factory patrons. Yes, they are annoying, but Penny Queen needs this job._

_5. Dr. Sheldon Cooper must go to the nail salon tomorrow for a scheduled appointment. Those babies aren't going to paint themselves!  
_

_6. Dr. Sheldon Cooper must use the hair and skin products needed to maintain Penny Queen's body. _

_7. Dr. Sheldon Cooper must allow Penny Queen to work out. A win for both parties in the agreement._

She laughed to herself after seeing she went past three. Penny will probably have to endure another lecture from Sheldon, but she'll risk it. Capping her pen back on, she headed to her bedroom and changed into the new sweats she bought in Sheldon's size.

She knew that she'll feel sore by the end of the day since Sheldon's body isn't used to her exercise regime, but it was a much needed work out. Grabbing her notes and the agreement she left in the living room, Penny walked out of the apartment, only to bump into Sheldon who was about to knock on her door. She quickly gave him the papers before leaving with a smiled and wave.

Sheldon scanned the paper. "Penny, you were supposed to change only three!" He yelled out towards the stairs.

"Bye Sheldon!" She said loudly before she reached the third floor landing.

* * *

**Later on...**

_knock, knock, knock, _"Penny?"

_knock, knock, knock, _"Penny?"

_knock, knock, knock, _"Penny?"

Penny got up from the couch and answered the door. She was tired and exhausted, but she knew at the end, it'll be worth it. Her body was incredibly sore, but she felt better stretching out what little muscles Sheldon had. The door swung open and Penny was greeted by Sheldon who was wearing her Hello Kitty pajamas. She snickered, picturing an image of what if Sheldon's actual body were in those pajamas. _That'll be a sight._

"May I have a word with you?" Sheldon asked.

Penny nodded and invited her friend inside her apartment. He took a seat on his usual spot on Penny's couch. She noticed that he seemed a bit distracted and dismayed. "Sheldon, is something wrong?"

"My brother's birthday is this weekend and my mother is forcing me to fly out to Texas for his party," Sheldon answered with a sigh.

"Well, tell your mom that you don't want to go."

He directly looked at her. "My brother and I aren't very close. We used to fight most of the time when we were younger. To this day, we haven't spoken as much. He's turning 35, and Mom believes that this a great time to bond with him."

"You don't seem interested. Again, tell her no."

"Penny, I can't tell her no. She won't budge. When I say she's forcing me, she's _forcing_ me. The last thing she said was that if I didn't go, she'll personally fly out here with George."

Penny sat down beside him. "I guess you're going. But how are we going to tell them about our problem?"

"I suggest you fly down to Galveston and pretend to be me."

She shook her head. "Yeah, I really don't want to go to Texas alone. I'll accompany you instead and we play as each other for the time being."

"Do I have to go to the party?"

"I'm not going to it by myself."

Sheldon shrugged. "Fine, just remember not to drink alcohol. It'll be a breach of the agreement you signed earlier today."

She groaned. "Alright. When are we leaving?"

"Tonight and I have our plane tickets ready," Sheldon stood and walked to the door, leaving Penny to gape at him.

"Seriously? Tonight?"

"It is what I said. Our flight departs in a few hours, which will take us three to get to Houston. We'll be at my mother's early Saturday morning, and the party is on Sunday evening. Monday morning, we take the train back to Pasadena. I'll email you the complete itinerary. So in the meantime, pack what you need and be ready in thirty minutes. I'll contact the university and inform them that you'll be using up the vacation days. I will be doing the same thing with your manager."

Penny listened. "Sheldon, my manager isn't going to let me miss a day. He's going to fire me!"

"Understood. This may be an opportunity for you to get a better job."

"Like what?"

Sheldon thought for a moment. "There's an opening at the university as a secretary."

"How much do they pay?"

"$40 an hour."

She smiled. "Even if I don't get fired, I'm still interested in getting the job."

"Good. Now start packing. We don't want to miss our flight now."

* * *

**A/N:**

**I'm not planning on abandoning this story. It's only going to take me a while to update.**

**Sorry for any errors or if this seems a little rushed.**

**Up next: Texas with Sheldon and Penny**


	6. Chapter 6

She couldn't believe it.

Penny was flying all the way down to Texas with Sheldon, and for three days, they have to deceive his family members. It could be a simple task, for her at least. She wondered how Sheldon will do during all of this. He's not the best at lying, and it's very easy to tell if he wass. Before they left the apartment, Penny suggested that he use the acting lessons she taught him. He would have to play the part of Penny Queen for the duration of their trip.

Leonard had dropped them off at the airport about twenty minutes ago. They had their plane tickets in hand and were heading towards airport security. Sheldon helped placed their baggage on the conveyor belt for the scanners. They were asked if their luggage had been in their possession at all times, and after answering with a yes, the two were directed to the metal detectors. After emptying out their pockets, Sheldon walked into the metal detector first. Penny stepped forward, only for the alarm to ring.

She looked at Sheldon, confused since she took out everything that would cause the detector to go off. One of the TSA agents asked Penny to step to the side, bringing out their handheld metal detector to use. She spread her arms and legs as she was being scanned, and the detector sounded when it was brought across her face.

"Open your mouth, sir," the security officer said and Penny did what she was told. He checked inside, but found nothing. Penny was getting nervous. She kept looking at Sheldon, who was waiting for her on the other side. "You have to come with me."

Sheldon quickly walked up to them before Penny was taken away. "My friend here has a Mexican Peso shoved up his nose."

"Excuse me, miss?" The officer asked. Penny never knew that he had a coin lodged in his nose.

"When he was younger, a boy shoved it up his nose. It takes him forty-five minutes just to get through airport security every time he travels."

The officer nodded. "Very well, but we still have to examine your friend here."

Sheldon followed them to another room, but was stopped and separated from Penny. He had a feeling of what was going to happen, having to experience it several times whenever he was asked to step aside. He noted that he should make an appointment with a surgeon and see how to take it out. As he sat on a chair in silence, he heard a faint "holy crap on a cracker" coming from the other room.

_She'll bounce back soon after that._

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Penny emerged from the room with an expressionless face. The officer inside informed them that everything is fine and to hurry up if they wanted to catch their flight. Penny immediately grabbed hold of one of the baggage as Sheldon followed her. Once they reached the gates, he needed to know if she was alright. Judging by her current state, he knew the answer already, but he wanted some clarification.

He placed a hand on Penny's shoulder. "Penny?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Sheldon."

That's all he needed to hear before they boarded the airplane.

* * *

Sheldon and Penny slept through most of the flight. It was about three hours worth of sleep yet it wasn't enough. Well, not enough for Penny, at least. Sheldon opened his eyes as he began to stretch his arms and legs from his seat. He turned his head to the left and saw Penny staring at the small screen in front of her, her eyelids becoming too heavy to keep open. She was exhausted, he could tell, and wondered why she stayed awake during the whole flight.

"Penny, why didn't you take advantage of the time we had in this aircraft to rest?" Sheldon asked, his voice causing her to jump slightly in her seat. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head to waken herself more. _Screw the agreement, I want coffee, _Penny thought to herself, looking around the plane for a stewardess.

"I couldn't sleep because you were snoring too much, Sheldon. I don't know how you were able to get a good night's sleep without hearing yourself. Seriously, you basically kept the whole plane awake because your snoring is really loud," Penny answered.

Sheldon leaned his head back. "Well, this is _your_ body, Penny. Now you realize that you do snore. You finally believe after all these years of me telling you and you denying it."

She huffed. "Oh, come on. I don't snore. _You_ do. You probably made my body start snoring because you're in it."

"No, you've always been a snorer, Penny. I found that out when I sneaked into your apartment one night to clean. Another point, I certainly do not snore."

A stewardess was heading towards them and she silently thanked god that she was getting her cup of coffee at four in the morning. She called her over with a smile. "Can I have some coffee?"

"Sorry, miss. The plane will begin to land in approximately fifteen minutes, but there is a coffee shop in the airport that you can visit once you leave."

Penny's smiled disappeared. Fifteen minutes until she can get coffee. She felt like she's never going to make it.

"Penny, drinking coffee is a violation as stated in our signed agreement," Sheldon reminded her as he flipped through the latest issue of _Applied Particle Physics Quarterly._

"Um, I was given a very uncomfortable pat down and an unnecessary colonoscopy back at the airport. I want coffee!" Penny growled.

Sheldon shifted away from her, afraid of being hit or slapped. "Fine! This will be the only exception. Please, calm down."

She took a deep breath in. "Thank you. I've never had a colonoscopy before and my ass is on fire. I swear Sheldon, if I'm going to have to do that one more time, I will hurt the first person who touches me."

"Do that you'll end up in jail."

She crossed her arms. "At least I won't have a camera stuck up my ass."

Sheldon chuckled under his breath. Their trip was already eventful and they haven't landed in Texas yet.

* * *

They hailed down a cab after gathering their entire luggage. Sheldon placed the bags inside the trunk before joining Penny inside the car, telling the driver the address of their destination. As they drove through the streets, Penny couldn't help but gaze out the window. She had never visited Texas before, but it felt like she had been there already. At first, she expected nothing but desert ground with cacti and tumbleweeds at every corner. She had to watch a couple of Western movies to get an idea of what it would look like.

When Sheldon told Penny about his hometown, it sounded nothing like the ones in the movies. After a quick Google search, she realized that it's not all deserts in Texas. Sheldon rolled his eyes. This woman needed a better education than the one she's receiving at the community college.

He lifted his head up to see Penny's face in the rear view mirror. She was in awe as she took in the sight of the city he was raised in. The cab drove through the residential area, and a few minutes later, they stopped in front of a green ranch house with pots of colorful flowers on the sides of the steps leading to the front door. Sheldon beamed as he paid the driver and the two exited the car.

With their luggage in hand, Sheldon dashed to the front door and raised his hand to start knocking. Before he could make any sound, Penny held his hand back and gave him a look, reminding him that she was supposed to be him. He gave her a nod, seeming a little disappointment. Penny decided not to knock. Instead, she rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer.

The door opened with Mary Cooper greeting them with a warm smile. The aroma of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies from inside the house made Penny's stomach rumble. She was hungry, and by the looks that Sheldon was giving, he was too. Mary extended her hand to Penny. "My, my, my! I wasn't expecting you to come down to Texas with my boy! Please don't tell me he made you travel with him."

There was an awkward silence before Sheldon realized that the question was directed towards him since he was in Penny's body. "I didn't make him, Mrs. Cooper."

"Good. Shelly, why are you letting Penny hold all your bags? That's very ungentleman-like and I raised you better. Also, your Meemaw is expecting a visit from you. She misses her favorite grandchild dearly, and is hoping to catch up with you," Mary said as she gestured the two to enter the house. Sheldon set the luggage on the living room floor, and walked to the table where the plate of cookies where. "Your friend Penny here must be starving, huh?"

"Yes, mom. I'm kinda hungry, too. Imma take a bite."

Penny stood next to Sheldon, who was glaring at her because of her improper grammar. She took a whiff of the cookies before picking one and eating it. "This is the best," she said with her mouth full.

"It is your favorite," Mary added. "Since I wasn't expecting you to come with Shelly, I guess you can take up Missy's old room. Don't worry Shelly, I still change the sheets and dust around the room regularly. Besides, you ain't the one sleeping in it, and Penny doesn't seem to mind."

Sheldon wanted to protest. One, because it meant that Penny was going to sleep in his room and no one was allowed to be in his room but him. Two, it also meant that he was going to sleep in a vacant room surrounding by the plethora of stuffed animals. Missy had always been a fan of collecting Hello Kitty's and Care Bears. When she moved out, she refused to sell them, wishing to keep them until she can have a daughter to pass them down to.

Penny poured herself a glass of milk that was also on the table. "That sounds cool. I'll go and unpack my stuff."

Once Penny exited, Sheldon was left alone with his mother. "Is Sheldon alright?"

"What make you think that there is something wrong with him?"

Mary shrugged. "He's acting a little peculiar. More than what I'm used to. He doesn't sound like the Sheldon I know."

"How so?"

"He never uses the word 'kinda' or 'imma.' He's too... educated, I guess, to use those words. He usually throws a fit whenever someone else says those things."

Sheldon made a note to himself to confront Penny about the proper usage of English grammar. "I can assure you that Sheldon's fine. He won't need your prayers for tonight, Mom- I mean Mary."

Mary shot him a look. "Are _you_ alright? You're also acting very differently."

"I'm going to see if Sheldon needs my help. He'll probably not organize my clothes the proper way."

Sheldon left the room, and Mary stared at the doorway leading to the bedrooms. She knew that something was up between the two, and she reminded herself to pray for their souls on Sunday.

"You're supposed to sort out my clothes by events. This is chaos!" Mary overheard Penny yell out from the other room.

She then heard her son's voice. "Oh, whatever! It's just a couple of shirts and pants. It's not a freaking display for the museum!"

_Something was definitely up between those two_, Mary thought as she took a bite of the cookie she baked.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Thank you for all your reviews! I enjoyed writing up this chapter for all of you guys, and I hope you enjoy reading it. I'll try and update more as soon as I can.**

**And for those reading my other story, "The Confrontation Alternative," I'm currently halfway done with the next chapter. I'm not so sure about when it'll be posted, but it'll eventually be.**

**Have a great day!**


	7. Chapter 7

_nudge, nudge, nudge,_ "Penny."

_nudge, nudge, nudge,_ "Penny."

_nudge, nudge, nudge,_ "Penny."

"What the hell, Sheldon?!" Penny said loudly, reaching over to the nightstand to turn on the lamp and saw that it was two in the morning.

Sheldon stood beside the bed, his hand clasped behind his back." I'm sorry to wake you up, Penny. I am having some trouble sleeping in Missy's bedroom. I was wondering if you want to switch rooms for tonight."

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You woke me up because of this?"

He stepped backwards, sensing imminent danger. He nodded cautiously and waited for the blonde to respond.

"You can sleep here for tonight, but I'm not getting out of bed," Penny simply said before shutting the light off and tucking herself back inside the covers. A second after shutting her eyes closed, the light opened once more and she groaned.

Sheldon was still standing beside her. "I can't sleep on the floor, Penny. The hardwood floor doesn't posses the proper lumbar support I need to achieve a successful REM sleep. I have to sleep on the bed."

"But I was here first!" Penny protested.

"This is my bed to begin with. Also, I would suggest that you do not dilly-dally about this situation since we are going to Meemaw's farm in less than eight hours. Give the bed up and sleep in Missy's room."

Penny buried her face within the pillow. "I'm not moving."

"If you do not move, then I'll sleep on the floor. But do I need to remind you that it was a challenge for you to sleep back on the plane because of my snoring? I'm sure it won't bother you this time."

She huffed and scrambled out of the bed before putting on her robe, mumbling how this was ridiculous. "Fine, Sheldon. You win. Enjoy your lumber support or whatever you call it."

Penny walked out of the bedroom, leaving Sheldon to smile smugly at how he was able to kick her out of his room.

* * *

Penny strolled back inside the Cooper home, leaving her sneakers by the front of the doorstep. Once she entered the living room, she sees Sheldon sitting on the couch watching an episode of Star Trek with Mary. They simultaneously turned their heads to her as she moved towards them. She was sweaty and hot, coming back from a mile-long jog outside. No one was awake when she left, and she enjoyed the time alone she had. Sheldon stood up and walked to her side as Mary excused herself for a minute. "Where were you?"

"I went jogging for an hour and stopped for a bear claw. Is anything wrong?" Penny responded as Mary returned to the living room with a bottle of water. Penny graciously accepted it with a smile. "Thank you."

"Sheldon, I never knew that you go out in the morning for a run. Since when did you take up on that?" Mary asked.

She glanced over to Sheldon, thinking of an answer. "A month ago. Running strengthens the cardiovascular system and it keeps me healthy."

Sheldon gave her a small thumbs up.

"You two have been acting strange, like you're not yourselves. Did anything odd happen back in California? I'm very concerned," Mary said.

Penny and Sheldon made a deal back at the airport that they were not to tell anyone in Texas about their situation. Sheldon believed that it would freak his mother out and think some weird voodoo happened to him. Sheldon stepped forward, "nothing happened. We're fine. Sheldon, go wash yourself up. We have to leave in an hour."

"Okay. I don't want to keep Meemaw waiting, now do I?"

Mary let Penny in Sheldon's body head upstairs to use the bathroom, and again she was left with her son trapped in the blonde's body. "Honey, I'm a mother. I know when something is wrong with my children, almost like instincts. I certainly know that there is something going on with my son and you. Now, I'm going to ask nicely one more time. I am known for prying into my children's lives like a squirrel trying to open a nut. I am going to find out sooner or later, so spill it out."

"Mrs. Cooper, I respect your wishes and glad that you are concern. I only wish you respect us and not pry in. When Sheldon and I say that there is nothing wrong, there is _nothing_ wrong," Sheldon felt the corner of his right eye twitch. He fought hard to gain control of it, and hoped that Mary didn't notice anything.

"I get that, Penny, but-"

"Nothing is wrong!" Sheldon's eyes and mouth twitched, and Mary looked at him wide-eyed.

"Hun, what's wrong with your face? Only Sheldon does that weird twitchy thing whenever he lies."

Sheldon stepped backwards and dashed to the stairs. "There's no reason to bring my looks into this. I have to go change." With that, Sheldon marched upstairs. He turned down the corridor, only to bump into Penny in his bathroom robe. "Penny, she's closing in on us! I don't think I can do this anymore."

Penny gripped his wrists and he flinched. "Sheldon, it's your decision. You're the one who didn't want to tell your mother. I have nothing against it because we can trust her. If you want to, go ahead. It's your choice."

"But what is she going to think? She'll pray for my soul knowing I've seen your body nude when I shower. I can't risk it."

"Then don't tell her."

Sheldon crossed his arms. "But she's going to figure it out soon. She caught me lying. Curse my facial ticks."

"Sheldon, make up your mind. We're leaving for your grandmother soon and we'll be away from your mother for a day. Relax, sweetie."

He sighed. "Fine, but you have to help me if my mother starts badgering me about it once more."

"Okay, sweetie. Go change. I'll be ready in a few."

* * *

The city buildings seem to diminished as they travel more down the road. The cafes and local shops were replaced by fields of greens and cattle-grazing animals. Penny rolled down the window to her right and enjoyed the fresh breeze outside. The scenery reminded her of the farms back in Nebraska, the only thing missing were the endless ears of corn planted on the ground. Sheldon was sitting in the back, secretly solving equations from his seat. Mary had the wheel, and fortunately did not bring up a certain topic. They drove in silence, with the faint music playing inside the car.

Sheldon lowered his notebook as a small house appeared from the distance. He looked too excited and she thought about the adorable relationship Sheldon had with his grandmother. Penny never met her, only hearing stories about her from Sheldon. From what she had heard (and the letters she accidentally read), Meemaw sounded like a pleasant woman, much like her own grandmother.

The car drove through the long dirt road leading up to the house. It was white, and had red shutters all around it. There was a big tree in front of the house and Penny could see a German Shepard laying down under the leaves. Behind the house, she could make out a large pond with more vegetation. A few chickens were running away from the yard as Mary parked in front of the door.

A little old lady with gray hair up in a bun emerged from inside the house as everyone in the vehicle exited. Penny looked over to Sheldon, who was very uncomfortable. He was fighting the urge to run up to his Meemaw and give her a big hug, knowing it would freak his grandmother out if a blonde woman, whom she has never met before, touches her. Sheldon cocked his head towards his Meemaw, and Penny walked to her. "Hello, Meemaw."

"Moonpie! I'm so happy to see you again!" Meemaw greeted as Penny leaned down and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman. Sheldon twitched, not liking how Meemaw was using her pet name for him on Penny. "Who do we have here?"

Sheldon extended his hand. "Penny Queen. Nice to meet you."

Meemaw pushed his hand away and instead hugged him, surprising Sheldon a bit. "You must be the woman who stole my little boy's heart. Does he treat you well?"

Penny moved next to the two who ended their embrace. "Penny and I aren't together. Right, Penny?"

Sheldon nodded quickly. "We are merely close friends."

"Don't look that way, sweetheart. My Moonpie writes so much about you in his weekly letters. He thinks you're a catch."

"Sheldon probably didn't write that," Sheldon said, seeing in the corner of his eye Penny giggling.

Penny thought it was cute how Sheldon would write about her. She only wondered what were the exact words he used.

"Now, get your bags and I'll show you where you will be sleeping for the night."

The two grabbed their bags before saying goodbye to Mary, who was waiting patiently in the background, and after she drove away, they entered the house.

* * *

Penny walked down the stairs that emitted a small creak on each step. Her eyes were scanning the pictures hung on the wall, showing the Cooper family from the past years. As she descended, the pictures appeared to be taken after the previous ones. She reached the final step, and in an antique frame was a young boy, about five or six of age, facing the camera with his striking blue eyes and brown hair. Next to him was a younger version of Mary holding on to a little girl that looked like Missy. Besides the three was another boy, no more than ten years old. He had blond hair, but also had those same blue eyes.

She couldn't look away from the Sheldon in the picture. His smile was wide and bright, something that she hasn't seen for a while now. She knew little to none about his childhood growing up in Texas. He didn't mention it when the topic wasn't brought up which rarely happened. Penny grazed her finger lightly on the framed picture, her eyes still locked on the younger Sheldon who seemed happier back then.

"Penny?" Her head faced up the staircase, seeing Sheldon in her pink t-shirt and sweatpants. In the back of her mind, she wished that she wasn't looking at her body right now.

She wished that it were Sheldon's.

"Yeah, sweetie?" Penny asked as Sheldon walked down the stairs, stopping when he was next to her. She pointed to the young boy in the picture. "What happened to the old Sheldon?"

Sheldon was confused by her words. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what happened to the Sheldon that was happy all the time? The smiling Sheldon in this picture?"

Before Sheldon could answer, Meemaw called out for her Moonpie from the kitchen.

"Meemaw's calling us, and we can't keep her waiting," Sheldon said, hoping to avoid answering that tough question she had.

Penny nodded hesitantly. "I'll see what's up." Once she entered the kitchen, Sheldon sighed. He took one last look of the picture of him when he was younger. He smiled, thinking back to the fun times he had growing up.

_Where did the old Sheldon go?_

"I'll be happy to help, Meemaw," Sheldon heard Penny say as he walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. "Penny, Meemaw asked if we wanted to do some chores around the farm. You know, to help around?"

Meemaw beamed. "Yes, dearie. And afterwards, you can indulge in my homemade brownies that I will fix up as you help out. We're gonna have dinner over here for your brother's birthday and this place could use some fixing up. Moonpie, are you sure you remember your way around the farm?"

"Yup. I have an eida... eideta... something with an 'e' memory," Penny replied. Meemaw eyes shot up, but she didn't say a word.

"Oh, of course, Meemaw. Sheldon?" He glanced behind the older lady for Penny, who was gesturing him to follow her out the back door.

Once they got outside, Penny started to skip towards the barnyard, not caring about all the mud that was getting on her shoes. Sheldon shook his head. She was ruining his shoes and doesn't even give one thought about it. He carefully navigated through the mud covered ground, afraid of falling face first. He ran through the field of grass, seeing Penny already in front of the red barnyard trying to open it up.

As he made his way to where she was, Sheldon thought about how much he wasn't enjoying his stay at Meemaw's. Truth be told, the great Dr. Cooper was jealous of Penny. His Meemaw was the only person in his life that he initiated a hug regularly. Sheldon loved Meemaw's hugs. She would always smell like brownies or peaches when her arms were wrapped around him. Seeing his grandmother hugging Penny gave him a twinge of envy. He also wasn't enjoying the part when Meemaw would use 'Moonpie' on Penny.

_He_ is her one and only Moonpie, and knowing that her use of the pet name was directed to Penny made him jealous with each use.

Another thing was helping around the farm. Growing up, Sheldon wasn't a big fan of cleaning the property and feeding the animals. The thought of the potential germs that might do harm to him was a set back. Instead, he would often help with Meemaw in the kitchen, learning her secret recipes and being able to bond with her more. He was the only grandchild she shared pet names with and wrote letters to every week.

Sheldon didn't notice the passing chicken, and when it clucked, he yelped and ran to Penny.

"Sheldon, what the hell happened?" Penny asked, seeing that there wasn't anything that could scare him.

"T-There was a chicken," Sheldon said shakily.

She stared at him wide-eyed. "A chicken?"

"Yes."

"Okay, next question: Why are you afraid of a small and harmless chicken?"

"When I was younger, a chicken chased me up the tree and it wouldn't leave. I stayed up there for almost an hour until it moved on."

Penny held back her laughter. She pictured that happening in her head, and thought it was adorable and hilarious at the same time. "Well, it's more scared of you than you are of him. Come on, we gotta start. Start by feeding the horses in the stable. I'll fix up the things in the barnyard."

Sheldon stood there, looking back and forth between Penny and the stable. "I'm not well suited for that."

"You don't know how, do you?" Penny knew the answer already, but when he stayed silent, she mused that he was not going to admit it. "How about I teach you?"

"Penny, I'm a physicist. I have a working knowledge of the entire universe and everything it contains."

"Except the farm life. Trust me, Sheldon. When it comes to all of this, _I'm_ the expert here."

Sheldon rolled his eyes. He remembered about Meemaw and how this was her request. He could do this to gain attention from her. He sighed and nodded his head. "Fine."

"Good. Let's start with the stables."

* * *

**A/N:**

**Up next: Horses and an appearance from George Jr.**

**Get ready for more Shenny scenes. I love writing them!**

**Again, excuse any errors I may have missed.**

***Things are going to be hectic in the following weeks. I got recently engaged and family is visiting again. Graduating college this week as well (finally). Also, I'm flying to California and my fiance arranged a tour of the Warner Brothers Studio for us... yay! I may not have that much time to write, but thank you all for your patience and all your reviews! There will be about three or four more chapters to this story and I've already outline them. Readers for my others story might have to wait a little while longer and it sucks since it's been a month since the last update. Summer is coming soon and I'll have plenty of time to finish both my stories. After that, I have more fun Shenny fics planned! Anyways, sorry for the long author's note and I thank you for your continued support :)**


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